Saint Sarah
Encyclopedia
Saint Sarah, also known as Sara-la-Kali ("Sara the Black"), is the mythic
patron saint
of the Roma (Gypsy) people. The center of her veneration
is Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer
, a place of pilgrimage
for Roma in the Camargue
, in southern France
. Legend identifies her as the servant of one of the Three Marys
, with whom she is supposed to have arrived in the Camargue.
According to various legends, during a persecution of early Christians, commonly placed in the year 42, Lazarus
, his sisters Mary Magdalene
and Martha
, Mary Salome
(the mother of the Apostles John
and James), Mary Jacobe and Saint Maximin
were sent out to sea in a boat. They arrived safely on the southern shore of Gaul at the place later called Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer
. In some accounts Sarah, a native of Upper Egypt
, appears as the black Egyptian maid of one of the Three Marys, usually Mary Jacobe.
Though the tradition of the Three Marys arriving in France stems from the high Middle Ages, appearing for instance in the 13th century Golden Legend
, Saint Sarah makes her first appearance in Vincent Philippon's book The Legend of the Saintes-Maries (1521), where she portrayed as "a charitable woman that helped people by collecting alms, which led to the popular belief that she was a Gypsy." Subsequently, Sarah was adopted by Roma as their saint.
Another account has Sarah welcoming the Three Marys into Gaul. Franz de Ville (1956) writes:
Some authors have drawn parallels between the ceremonies of the pilgrimage and the worship of the India
n goddess Kali
, subsequently identifying the two. Ronald Lee
(2001) states:
Walter Weyrauch (2001) notes that,
's 1993 film Latcho Drom
(Safe Journey) where it is carried to the sea, and her landing is re-enacted.
In the Chilean telenovela "Romané", the main character is a Roma woman named Jovanka, a devotée of Saint Sarah. She swears in Sarah's name that she'll never reveal which of her daughters is her true child.
book Holy Blood, Holy Grail, suggest that Sarah was the daughter of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene
. These ideas were popularized by Dan Brown
's novel The Da Vinci Code
and is also the main plot in Eron Manusov's novel Ahavah's Dream. These speculations have been rejected by the local inhabitants.
Folk saint
Folk saints are dead people or other spiritually powerful entities venerated as saints but not officially canonized. Since they are saints of the "folk", or the populus, they are also called popular saints...
patron saint
Patron saint
A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...
of the Roma (Gypsy) people. The center of her veneration
Veneration
Veneration , or veneration of saints, is a special act of honoring a saint: an angel, or a dead person who has been identified by a church committee as singular in the traditions of the religion. It is practiced by the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic, and Eastern Catholic Churches...
is Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer
Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer
Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer is the capital of the Camargue in the south of France. It is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department by the Mediterranean Sea. Population: 2,478...
, a place of pilgrimage
Pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...
for Roma in the Camargue
Camargue
The Camargue is the region located south of Arles, France, between the Mediterranean Sea and the two arms of the Rhône River delta. The eastern arm is called the Grand Rhône; the western one is the Petit Rhône....
, in southern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Legend identifies her as the servant of one of the Three Marys
The Three Marys
The Three Marys are the three biblical Marys who came to the sepulchre of Jesus in the Gospels and were companions of Mary, the mother of Jesus. In Eastern Orthodoxy they are among the Myrrhbearers, traditionally including a larger number of people. All four gospels mention the women going to the...
, with whom she is supposed to have arrived in the Camargue.
Accounts
Lazarus of Bethany
Lazarus of Bethany, also known as Saint Lazarus or Lazarus of the Four Days, is the subject of a prominent miracle attributed to Jesus in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus restores him to life four days after his death...
, his sisters Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus' most celebrated disciples, and the most important woman disciple in the movement of Jesus. Jesus cleansed her of "seven demons", conventionally interpreted as referring to complex illnesses...
and Martha
Martha
Martha of Bethany is a biblical figure described in the Gospels of Luke and John. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Mary, she is described as living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem...
, Mary Salome
Salome (disciple)
Salome , sometimes venerated as Mary Salome, was a follower of Jesus who appears briefly in the canonical gospels and in more detail in apocryphal writings...
(the mother of the Apostles John
John the Apostle
John the Apostle, John the Apostle, John the Apostle, (Aramaic Yoħanna, (c. 6 - c. 100) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of James, another of the Twelve Apostles...
and James), Mary Jacobe and Saint Maximin
Maximin of Trier
Saint Maximin was the fifth bishop of Trier, according to the list provided by the diocese's website, taking his seat in 341/342...
were sent out to sea in a boat. They arrived safely on the southern shore of Gaul at the place later called Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer
Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer
Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer is the capital of the Camargue in the south of France. It is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department by the Mediterranean Sea. Population: 2,478...
. In some accounts Sarah, a native of Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt is the strip of land, on both sides of the Nile valley, that extends from the cataract boundaries of modern-day Aswan north to the area between El-Ayait and Zawyet Dahshur . The northern section of Upper Egypt, between El-Ayait and Sohag is sometimes known as Middle Egypt...
, appears as the black Egyptian maid of one of the Three Marys, usually Mary Jacobe.
Though the tradition of the Three Marys arriving in France stems from the high Middle Ages, appearing for instance in the 13th century Golden Legend
Golden Legend
The Golden Legend is a collection of hagiographies by Jacobus de Voragine that became a late medieval bestseller. More than a thousand manuscripts of the text have survived, compared to twenty or so of its nearest rivals...
, Saint Sarah makes her first appearance in Vincent Philippon's book The Legend of the Saintes-Maries (1521), where she portrayed as "a charitable woman that helped people by collecting alms, which led to the popular belief that she was a Gypsy." Subsequently, Sarah was adopted by Roma as their saint.
Another account has Sarah welcoming the Three Marys into Gaul. Franz de Ville (1956) writes:
One of our people who received the first Revelation was Sara the Kali. She was of noble birth and was chief of her tribe on the banks of the RhôneRhône RiverThe Rhone is one of the major rivers of Europe, rising in Switzerland and running from there through southeastern France. At Arles, near its mouth on the Mediterranean Sea, the river divides into two branches, known as the Great Rhone and the Little Rhone...
. She knew the secrets that had been transmitted to her... The Rom at that period practiced a polytheistic religion, and once a year they took out on their shoulders the statue of IshtarIshtarIshtar is the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility, love, war, and sex. She is the counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and to the cognate north-west Semitic goddess Astarte.-Characteristics:...
i (Astarte) and went into the sea to receive benediction there. One day Sara had visions which informed her that the Saints who had been present at the death of Jesus would come, and that she must help them. Sara saw them arrive in a boat. The sea was rough, and the boat threatened to founder. Mary Salome threw her cloak on the waves and, using it as a raft, Sarah floated towards the Saints and helped them reach land by praying.
Pilgrimage
The day of the pilgrimage honouring Sarah is May 24; her statue is carried down to the sea on this day to re-enact her arrival in France.Some authors have drawn parallels between the ceremonies of the pilgrimage and the worship of the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n goddess Kali
Kali
' , also known as ' , is the Hindu goddess associated with power, shakti. The name Kali comes from kāla, which means black, time, death, lord of death, Shiva. Kali means "the black one". Since Shiva is called Kāla - the eternal time, Kālī, his consort, also means "Time" or "Death" . Hence, Kāli is...
, subsequently identifying the two. Ronald Lee
Ronald Lee
----Ronald Lee is a Canadian Romani writer, linguist and activist.-Childhood and Youth:Lee's father was a Kalderash musician from Europe. He emigrated to Canada where he got married, taking his wife's surname, Lee....
(2001) states:
If we compare the ceremonies with those performed in France at the shrine of Sainte Sara (called Sara e Kali in Romani), we become aware that the worship of Kali/Durga/Sara has been transferred to a Christian figure... in France, to a non-existent "sainte" called Sara, who is actually part of the Kali/Durga/Sara worship among certain groups in India.
Walter Weyrauch (2001) notes that,
The ceremony in Saintes-Maries closely parallels the annual processions in India, the country in which the Romani originated, when statues of the Indian goddess Durga, also named Kali, are immersed into water. Durga, the consort of Shiva, usually represented with a black face, is the goddess of creation, sickness and death.
Cultural references
The statue of Saint Sarah makes an appearance in Tony GatlifTony Gatlif
Tony Gatlif is a French film director of Romani ethnicity who also works as a screenwriter, composer, actor, and producer.- Biography :...
's 1993 film Latcho Drom
Latcho Drom
Latcho Drom is a 1993 French documentary film directed and written by Tony Gatlif . The movie is about the Romani people's journey from north-west India to Spain, consisting primarily of music...
(Safe Journey) where it is carried to the sea, and her landing is re-enacted.
In the Chilean telenovela "Romané", the main character is a Roma woman named Jovanka, a devotée of Saint Sarah. She swears in Sarah's name that she'll never reveal which of her daughters is her true child.
In popular culture
Some authors, taking up themes from the pseudohistoricalPseudohistory
Pseudohistory is a pejorative term applied to a type of historical revisionism, often involving sensational claims whose acceptance would require rewriting a significant amount of commonly accepted history, and based on methods that depart from standard historiographical conventions.Cryptohistory...
book Holy Blood, Holy Grail, suggest that Sarah was the daughter of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus' most celebrated disciples, and the most important woman disciple in the movement of Jesus. Jesus cleansed her of "seven demons", conventionally interpreted as referring to complex illnesses...
. These ideas were popularized by Dan Brown
Dan Brown
Dan Brown is an American author of thriller fiction, best known for the 2003 bestselling novel, The Da Vinci Code. Brown's novels, which are treasure hunts set in a 24-hour time period, feature the recurring themes of cryptography, keys, symbols, codes, and conspiracy theories...
's novel The Da Vinci Code
The Da Vinci Code
The Da Vinci Code is a 2003 mystery-detective novel written by Dan Brown. It follows symbologist Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu as they investigate a murder in Paris's Louvre Museum and discover a battle between the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei over the possibility of Jesus having been married to...
and is also the main plot in Eron Manusov's novel Ahavah's Dream. These speculations have been rejected by the local inhabitants.
- In Paulo CoelhoPaulo CoelhoPaulo Coelho is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist.-Biography:Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He attended a Jesuit school. As a teenager, Coelho wanted to become a writer. Upon telling his mother this, she responded with "My dear, your father is an engineer. He's a logical,...
's novel "The Witch of PortobelloThe Witch of PortobelloThe Witch of Portobello is a fiction work by Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho published in 2007, about a woman born in Transylvania to a Romani mother, who is orphaned and later adopted by a wealthy Lebanese couple.-Style:...
", St. Sarah is mentioned several times. - In Gypsilands 2000 Album 'Viva La Musica", track thirteen is titled "Santa Sarah". This Track Pay homage to the Patron saint of the Romani People St. Sara-Kali.
- Setting of the book "Light of the Moon" by Luanne Rice
External links
- Jarmila Balazova, Religion among the Roma
- Nova-Gnostic Christianity